Origin (3)

... Tap.

A low and heavy footstep echoed through the space steeped in silence. Then, followed by the sound of footsteps trying to suppress all presence, came the faint metallic noises that seemed to tickle one's eardrum.

Fortunately, nothing dangerous happened while passing through the ventilation duct. Since there were no ghoul-made holes or the like, it seemed it would be fine if, after the operation began, a situation arose where Nadia and Carry had to come this way.

Though we would probably reunite at the cargo sector's shuttle station rather than the comms area.

- It's my first time seeing inside Heaven myself.

Licorice, borrowing the eyes of the security robot Alpha, swept the server room with her mono-eye darting about. The comms area server room didn't look as if anyone extra had come in.

A thick layer of dust coated the floor, and scattered wrecked servers toppled by explosions gave the place an eerie atmosphere. Though a lot of time had passed, I still felt as if the acrid smell lingered in the air.

- The server room and control room aren't worth a look. I'd like to go straight to the private room—what do you think?

- I'd prefer to check around first. Not the whole place, but at least this area.

With sharp eyes, Eric swept dust off the floor with his finger. He wanted to tidy up around the server room with the duct. He hoped that if we had to escape here again later, we wouldn't be blocked by unforeseen dangers.

'That's reasonable, but...'

Unlike last time, we now had more than double the people, so moving in a group seemed excessive. No matter how quietly we moved, with this many, our presence would inevitably be noticed.

After a short deliberation, I answered.

- Alright. But just me and Eric. You and the Alpha series wait here.

- Understood.

The man, tense-faced, swallowed dryly. He clamped his mouth shut, following my stern warning not to make a sound.

- Why not take one Alpha unit? They have temperature sensors; it might help.

- It's fine. I'm not lacking in combat ability, and my senses aren't dull.

It was right to leave the Alpha series here for the operation anyway. It wouldn't take long. I planned to return as quickly as possible.

Eric and I left the server room to scout the closest facilities—the control and break rooms. The comms area had no windows to the outside, leaving the interior pitch-dark.

There was only a faintly blinking emergency light near the base of the wall, so it wasn't pitch black. But that dimness actually made visibility worse.

Turning on a flashlight was out of the question. We weren't advertising our location. Even without lights, it was easy to spot ghouls—they emitted a blue glow that clouded the mind the more you looked at them.

We carefully brushed aside shards of broken glass on the floor, walking down the corridor where only our breathing echoed quietly. Then I caught a tickling sound in my ear.

A sound like water flowing—coming from the bathroom at a diagonal from my line of sight. Seemed there was a plumbing problem.

We stopped for a moment and exchanged signals. Agreeing to Eric's suggestion to enter, I gripped the plasma cutter Kyle had crafted. The cold, clinging touch, the handle meshing perfectly with my suit's glove.

We entered the bathroom. Instead of ammonia, humid air filled my nostrils. The sticky dampness clung to the soles of my shoes.

With unwavering gaze, I caught the glimmer of blue light. A ghoul was inside. After a deep breath, I took a step—and inevitably, a splash. The bathroom floor was partly flooded.

The circular ripple of sound instantly alerted the ghoul, but it didn't matter. Before it could process the situation, we cut it down.

Slash!

The high-power plasma formed a sharp-edged blade. As it swept past, the ghoul crumbled without a squeal. With a splat, I heard the sound of flesh occasionally twitching.

Situation over in an instant. We didn't lower our guard. Eric kept watch in case there were more; I finished off the ghoul.

Same blue glow, but the plasma felt entirely different—so much more stable, its cutting power and accuracy greatly improved. Even a graze severed big chunks.

I couldn't massacre all of them, but it was undeniably easier than before. Incidentally, Eric hadn't reacted when his military greatsword had been split in half; turned out he'd given it to Kyle to do just that. I'd wondered how he could break someone's weapon without a second thought, but that was the reason.

After realizing the situation really was over, Eric and I grinned at each other and bumped fists. We worked together surprisingly well, though not as well as I did with Nadia.

- That's enough. Going farther deviates from the original plan.

I glanced at the ghoul, now just a corpse. My feelings were conflicted. How long had it been since I'd stopped hesitating to kill? It was past the point where "I had no choice to survive" worked as an excuse.

Even now, I cared more about whether it had an ID bracelet than about who the ghoul used to be.

Unfortunately, there was nothing worth taking. Usually, bracelets broke off or slipped away during the ghoulification process.

There was no fluid worth collecting, so I quickly cleaned up my equipment and retraced our steps. With no extra sounds and on familiar ground, we moved faster.

Returning to the server room, the man's anxiety faded into obvious relief. Licorice also brightened and exclaimed,

- You came to rescue us!

- ... Rescue? What do you mean?

Was this one of those times where I had to say, "Actually, I got caught, too?"

But Licorice was completely serious.

- Of course you did! She kept making a racket, I thought I'd suffocate.

- Ah.

I roughly understood what she meant, so I gave the standard "good job" and turned to the man. He gestured impatiently.

- We need to use the elevator. The private room is on the upper floor.

- Elevator... Let's go.

Whether it worked or not, our plans wouldn't change. If it did, we'd ride it; if not—break the lid, grab the wire, and climb up.

We positioned the man in the center, with the rest of us front and back, and walked under the brighter lights of the access corridor. The elevator at the end of the hall, thankfully, was working.

Squeak... Thud- Squeak... Thud-

We could tell by the arm trapped between the elevator doors, opening and closing repeatedly—at least the door worked.

〈Elevator〉 【A malfunction has occurred in the door. Please call the maintenance team immediately.】

- Hm...

Licorice hummed thoughtfully. When I asked why, she just said we'd talk in the private room.

We kicked aside the arm caught in the door and stepped over the dried bloodstains into the elevator. The holo-panel inside showed "upper" and "lower" buttons.

If there was a basement, there'd be a "middle" button. In that case, "lower" would mean the basement.

Hitting the button for the comms area's upper floor triggered a long-overworked groan from the metal doors, closing with a screech almost like a scream.

Then, felt and heard: the passing and vanishing corridor lights, the emergency-powered motor pulling the wire, the faint metallic tang pricking my nerves.

I didn't like it. The environment, everything. The long exhale leaking out was full of discomfort.

'It's the first time I've climbed to another floor since everything went to hell.'

I'd gone up via a lift before, but not changed floors—in Heaven, a "floor" means more than a change in elevation. Passing between segmented, subdivided zones—only then could you say you'd changed floors. Sometimes, importance separated floors, too.

... Clunk.

The elevator stopped, and with a squelch the doors slid open. The darkness beyond seemed poised to spill in and swallow us.

【Eeeee...】【Eurgh...】

I didn't know where the sounds seeping like mist across the floor came from. No blue glow—so no ghouls nearby, nor pretending to be dead.

- Let's clear out as we go.

- When the operation starts, this place'll get wrecked anyway. Can't we just leave them alone?

- If that was the plan, we wouldn't have cleared the lower floor.

We went to the trouble of dealing with ghouls because we didn't want to leave danger at our backs. Maybe it was unnecessary, but Eric and I felt leaving them was riskier.

They could pursue targets using their monstrous strength in varieties of ways—like through ductwork, or hanging from ceilings. Making eye contact upside down was disturbing as all hell.

We began clearing the dormant ghouls from hidden corners. Some wandered aimlessly—running into them almost exposed us. But the upgraded gear shone in those moments. Before, the plasma's form would destabilize at high power, missing its target, but now it worked as I intended.

Each upper floor room was like a mini personal office. Supervisors would get reports from their zones, then relay them upwards to senior SSTC execs.

Until you opened it, the inside was like Schrödinger's box. But there were limits—the ghouls inside would have to have once been comms area staff.

'... Why is someone who should be in Nexus here?'

Some ghouls, clearly not from here but from another area, hid in rooms despite sealed doors. Or perhaps transformed here after entering.

'Guess the survivors tried to break the comms lockdown.'

It was the only way to explain it.

Suppressing my nerves and breath, we launched several sneak attacks; before long, the upper comms area was largely cleared. In other sectors, that would've been impossible.

Only because the upper comms wasn't huge, but split into many rooms, could we manage it.

Breathing out, we headed to the man's private room. Before long, it appeared.

〈N. Do@$% - Chief Engineer〉 【Currently unavailable. For after-hours requests, leave a message at the system console.】

Chief engineer's office. There were marks suggesting someone'd tried to force the door open—burns, gouges, and even dragged bloodstains.

Yet the door swung open at once for its true owner. Almost laughably easily.

Tsk—the air was sucked inside. Apparently, no one had entered since the incident—there was little sign of disturbance.

Just in case, Alpha entered first, mono-eye glowing red and scanning. No pureblood supremacists or ghouls. Nothing found; the mono-eye reverted.

After confirming there was no danger, I relaxed and called to the man.

- Find the medicine first.

He immediately opened his personal locker and, visibly relieved, pulled out a small pill bottle. The ordeal had been worth it.

Aside from the Alpha left outside for the operation, everyone else filed in, and the man, cherishing the bottle, went to the console. His face changed abruptly.

- Wait. There's evidence someone tried to access my personal console.

- Are you sure?

- Hyun-woo, the important question isn't are you sure, but whether the attempt was made from inside or outside.

- The attempt came from outside.

- Not a big deal, then. Given the situation, this is the comms area; outside attempts to connect aren't strange. You know that, right?

- I do, but... It's the abnormal number of attempts that concerns me.

The man agreed with Licorice, but couldn't shake his discomfort. Licorice thought a moment, then continued communication.

- I'm accounting for that. And, to be honest, this could be a trap.

- ... A trap? Why're you telling us now?

The sudden bombshell left me speechless. Eric frowned slightly too.

- It's just possible, that's all. No deeper meaning.

- Come on, you must have a reason to think that.

- No, it's just a feeling. Besides, if it is a trap, what can we do? This is the only way to get what we need, and we're already here. We have no choice but to see it through.

Licorice had just felt something off—no more, no less. She brushed aside my question, reminding me we'd set up our own traps as well.

Honestly, I don't think someone like Licorice's "feelings" should be ignored. Life is a chain of choices, and sometimes intuition matters more than logic or evidence. Making the wrong call can mean death, and Licorice, of all people, would know that instinct is key to survival.

I wanted to push further, but Licorice focused on unlocking the system. Any more talk would just distract her, so I went along.

I called Nadia, who must have been anxiously awaiting our communication. Before the first ring ended, she answered, with a little sneeze.

- Hyun-woo!

- Ready, re?

- ... Were you calling me just now? Why'd you stop mid-name—Ah, I get it. That's it, right! Of course I'm ready, Hyun! I was just waiting for the word!

Thank goodness Nadia caught on; that could've been embarrassing.

- So I start now, right?

- Yeah. Think you can? Tell me if you need more time.

- Nah, I'm all set. Supplying power now.

With that, a green dot appeared on the system console's hologram—a sign Nadia had activated the antenna.

【Notice. Power grid has been temporarily restored. For stable output, please reconnect via cable.】

The green dot formed a line, which branched throughout the comms area. Red nodes unlocked one by one, turning green.

- Good. Antenna online, lure's set, cameras are few but operational...

Licorice, using Alpha's body, inserted a special chip into the console and the sparse hologram sprawled out, displaying a flood of information. Despite the complex data, Alpha—thus Licorice—remained perfectly calm.

The man, however, was troubled. The system was now operating well outside his authorized limits. He looked as if he might say something, but held his tongue, not wanting to interrupt.

- Now it really starts. Brace yourselves. Things might get rough.

- Just what I was hoping for. That's my kind of thing.

- ... You like things rough? Wait—never mind, concentrate! Don't make me fumble a setting!

"...."

Whatever I did, I got blamed for it. I pursed my lips but kept quiet. Licorice was right—time to focus.

【Attention. The comms area upper floor has been fully sealed. Isolation will remain until unlocked at the main console.】

Where we stood was being panic-roomed. Not just the ventilation duct, but even tiny vents we'd missed were sealed with barriers. Clunking of interlocking devices echoed throughout.

This was why we'd insisted on this place. You could access the main system from the control room, but couldn't do this there.

【Warning. All cargo sector quarantines have been lifted. Deck is expanding. Workers, beware of sudden falls.】

【Warning. Maintenance area quarantine is recalibrated. Barriers opening. Excess energy in some areas. Circuit breakers have been destroyed. Control issues have occurred.】

【Warning. Central area entryways are closed. Entry/exit forbidden until quarantine is lifted.】

For today—no, just this time—the positions between us and the ghouls would be reversed.

This moment, we were no longer mere prey being chased.

We were hunters, waiting silently in our trap.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Damn, the upgrades made thing easire, just in time for stronger enemies, maybe the pureblood supremacists?【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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